LEOMINSTER -- A Gardner man police say they found with chemicals, weapons and drugs in his car outside a Barnes & Noble bookstore last month is out on $7,500 bail following a dangerousness hearing in Leominster District Court Monday morning.

Jesse Holland, 23, must wear a GPS tracking device, surrender his passport and cannot possess weapons or incendiary devices before his next scheduled court appearance on March 27.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Nugent pushed to deny bail at the hearing, saying Holland had hydromorphone, which is a prescription painkiller, a hatchet and a stun gun he was not authorized to possess along with iron powder, aluminum powder, magnesium ribbon, some wire and an emergency jump-start battery in the trunk of his car when he was arrested.

"Those items could be combined to create a thermite bomb," said Nugent.

Thermite does not explode but burns at an extremely high temperature and is used to cut through steel support beams in demolition projects. Holland told police he stole the chemicals from Waltham High School, where he worked as a security guard.

Defense attorney Sean Smith said Holland intended to throw those chemicals into a fire pit to see what would happen. He repeatedly called Holland's intentions "sophomoric" and "stupid," but said they were merely "tomfoolery" and not dangerous.

Smith handed the judge 16 letters from friends, family members and people from the community who know Holland in support of his character.

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Six tearful members of Holland's family attended the dangerousness hearing.

Holland appeared relaxed and showed little emotion during the proceedings.

Nugent argued that books found in Holland's car tell something about his mindset and possible intentions.

They included "The Red Badge of Courage" by Stephen Crane; "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo; "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair; and "Flags of Our Fathers" by William Broyles Jr. and Paul Haggis. Nugent said they have common themes of war, violence, revolution and weapons of mass destruction.

But Holland's defense attorney argued that merely possessing those books does not prove Holland is a revolutionary or show he had any intention to harm anyone or anything.

"Those books are read by high-school students and other children of this commonwealth," said Smith.

Smith asked for $5,000 bail, an amount he said Holland's family could afford, but Judge Maura K. McCarthy set it at $7,500. She said the prosecution failed to prove clearly and convincingly that Holland would be a danger if released.

Holland was initially arraigned on Feb. 27 on charges of possession or selling of an electric stun gun, possession of a class A substance and possession of an infernal machine.

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